Creative project plea for folk to share tales of town’s history
Also to raise awareness of Old Rectory in Rectory Place
LOUGHBOROUGH writer Alison Mott is looking for people to take part in a creative project which aims to share knowledge of the town’s history and raise people’s awareness of the Old Rectory in Rectory Place.
Alison is leading the project – called ‘Hidden Stories, Hidden Voices’ – on behalf of Writing East Midlands, with funding from the Arts Council and Charnwood Borough Council.
She’ll be running workshops in the community until the end of September, collecting people’s stories of coming to Loughborough and their memories of living in the town.
“I was born in Loughborough, but my parents weren’t,” she said. “They came here to work in the 1950s. I grew up feeling disconnected from the history of the place and it wasn’t until I began volunteering at the Old Rectory that that changed.
“In learning about the town’s past, I’ve come to realise that Loughborough’s story is one of ordinary people coming here, making it their home and becoming part of the community, whether that’s in recent times, 70 years ago like my parents, or hundreds of years ago when the town first began.”
The grade II listed structure is one of Loughborough’s oldest buildings, but few people know anything about it. Originally a medieval mansion, it was lived in for centuries by rectors of the Parish Church, but became empty in 1958 and plans were made to knock it down. It was saved from total demolition by
volunteers of Loughborough Archaeological and Historical Society, who run it now as a museum.
Alison uses historical stories and artefacts to prompt people’s own memories, which she then encourages them to write down. Amongst other things, she’s collected the story of a woman who worked three local milk rounds in the 1980s and a man whose father settled here after being stationed at Quorn in WW2. “I’m excited to be doing my bit to preserve these memories so others can enjoy them,” she said. “It’s wonderful to think they’ll become part of Loughborough’s history for future generations to read.”
Workshops with young writers at Limehurst Aademy took place in July and Alison will be working with groups of all ages at Loughborough Parish Church, Fearon Hall and the Three Nuns pub. She’s looking for other groups who would also be interested in taking part.
The project runs until October, when there’ll be an anthology published of people’s stories and an exhibition at the Old Rectory Museum. Alison can be contacted at charnwoodcreatives@gmail.com